Secret ‘CIA bases’ in New Delhi, Kolkata? What JFK files reveal about US agency's covert Ops in India
Recently declassified JFK files reveal the CIA's clandestine operations in India, revealing secret bases in New Delhi and Kolkata. These documents provide a glimpse into the agency's surveillance activities during a tumultuous period and link India's cooperation with US intelligence.
The latest batch of declassified ‘JFK files’ related to the 1963 assassination of President John F Kennedy, released on March 19, has reportedly indicated that the US Federal Intelligence Service – the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – had secret bases in New Delhi and Kolkata.
The CIA’s New York division oversaw secret bases in multiple locations. It revealed the documents referred to as ‘JFK files’, shedding light on the agency’s covert operations in India and several other countries.
The CIA bases were located in New Delhi, Calcutta (Kolkata) in India, Ankara, Istanbul (Turkey), Beirut (Lebanon), Tehran (Iran), Rawalpindi (Pakistan), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Seoul (South Korea), and Tokyo (Japan).
The document, which carries the list of CIA ‘secret bases,’ was shared by Russian media house RT on X. Mint couldn't verify if the list was from the fresh batch of JFK files released by President Donald Trump-led United States administration on March 19.
These secret facilities, also known as “black sites”, are used by the CIA for various clandestine operations, including interrogation and detention of suspected terrorists.
The previously classified records were published without redactions, according to a statement from the office of Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
Approximately 2,200 of these documents have been put on the US National Archives Records Administration (NARA) website following an order by former President Donald Trump. The move is part of a broader collection of over six million pages of records, photographs, and other materials related to John F Kennedy's assassination.
‘Nehru allowed CIA Indian airbase in 1962’
India has a history of engagement with the CIA during the Cold War. India allowed the US to use Charbatia airbase in Odisha for refuelling the CIA's U-2 spy planes to target Chinese territories after its defeat in the 1962 war, a declassified official document said in August 2013.
The then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, approved U-2 reconnaissance flights over border areas with China on November 11, 1962, according to a 2013 report by the independent National Security Archive (NSA). The report, based on newly declassified CIA documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed this information.
The CIA is also said to have played a key role in facilitating the Dalai Lama’s escape to India in 1959.
President Donald Trump's Promise
Releasing JFK files has been on Trump's agenda for long. In January, soon after he was sworn into office, President Trump ordered the release of the remaining classified files related to the assassination, which has spawned countless conspiracy theories.
He directed the national intelligence director and attorney general to develop a plan to release the records. The order also aimed to declassify the remaining federal records related to the 1968 assassinations of Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
- Declassified JFK files provide insights into the CIA's historical presence in India.
- India's cooperation with U.S. intelligence during the Cold War was significant, particularly in relation to China.
- The existence of CIA 'black sites' in major cities indicates a wider scope of U.S. covert operations in the region.
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